Wizards killer Jeff Green led the Magic with 18 points off of the bench. Markieff Morris was the high-scorer for the Wizards also with 18 points. The Wizards looked and played like a different team tonight without John Wall who was resting for precautionary reasons.

After finding themselves in a quick 6-0 hole, the Wizards dug themselves out by shooting 45.5 percent in the first quarter to take a 24-20 lead. Morris was a key contributor especially as he was the lone starter playing alongside the reserves. Morris hit several tough shots in the second quarter as the Wizards opened this game up with an 11-0 run and led at halftime, 50-40.

Andrew Nicholson, in a homecoming game against his former team, was a pit bull in the paint with three offensive rebounds and putbacks in the lane. The Wizards entered the fourth quarter up 70-61 and it looked like it could be smooth sailing.

That’s when the Wizards went ice cold. The Wizards hit just five field goals in the fourth quarter as they were outscored 88-86 in the period.

The loss drops the Wizards to 1-4 and it doesn’t get any easier next week as their next three games are against Houston, Boston, Cleveland, and Chicago.

Three Things:

The stage wasn’t too big for Satoransky:

Tomas Satoransky received his first NBA start tonight as the Wizards rested John Wall for precautionary reasons coming off of his double knee surgery. Satoransky scored eight points to go along with three assists, and two rebounds. He looked comfortable running the pick-and-roll with Gortat, made the right pass, and didn’t turn the ball over. Satoransky also hit a few floaters in the lane; something we haven’t seen from him before. Expect Satoransky to shift into the backup point guard role sooner rather than later.

Another quiet yet solid game from Otto Porter:

Otto Porter notched another double-double tonight with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Per usual, Otto was cutting through the lane and crashing the offensive glass. He hit his first two, three-pointers of the season as well tonight which was a nice thing to see.

In games where Wall doesn’t play, it’s imperative that Porter gets involved. The coaching staff seldom runs plays for Otto and when they do, he often checks his feet before shooting the ball which results in a miss. The Wizards are going to need more than 10 points from Porter.

The John Wall Effect:

The Wizards only had 11 assists in this game. It’s not unusual for John Wall to log 11 assists on his own. Too often, players were stuck playing 1-on-1 which allowed the Magic to collapse the paint on defense. It’s unclear how long Wall will continue to sit out the second half off back-to-backs but one thing is clear; this team needs him on the court.